London Symphony Orchestra
@ York Barbican Centre

About

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a study in harmony, with music from John Adams and a new work by Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Inspired by a dream in which an oil tanker launches into space like a Saturn V rocket, John Adams’ Harmonielehre marries the rich and expressive harmonies of late Romanticism with the postmodernist developmental techniques of 20th-century minimalism.
Catch spectral glimpses of Sibelius, Debussy, Mahler and early Schoenberg as we journey through a fantastical sonic landscape, from the high-energy opening and the melancholic second movement through to the tidal wave of brass and percussion which brings the piece to its grand and uplifting final climax.
LSO Music Director Sir Simon Rattle, a long-time champion of new music, pairs this large-scale work with the UK premiere of a brand new piece by British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle.